Wonwoo
Tuesday
22nd September 2015
11:28

Wonwoo turned over in his sleep, the sun blaring behind his eyelids. He knew that it was time to get up, but he couldn't bring himself to get out of the warm covers on his bed. He pulled the duvet up to his ear trying to keep the cold from entering in.

He stayed still in this position for around a minute before he knew it was inevitable that he was not going to get back to sleep. He slowly opened one eye, testing the brightness, closing it almost instantly when the sun met his gaze, blinding him.

"Ugh." Wonwoo lifted his hands from under the covers and stretched his bare arms above his head. He flinched from the cold, but grew used to it as he rubbed his sleepy eyes.

Wonwoo flipped the covers back, slipped his baggy white t-shirt over his head. The t-shirt reached his knees as he hobbled over to the mirror that hung on his wall. He looked at his reflection and flinched away. He had bags under his eyes and his hair was sticking up in random directions.

Wonwoo ran his hands through his hair, trying to fix it but failing miserably as it looked worse than it had when he'd started. Wonwoo groaned turning away from the mirror. He pulled his phone out seeing messages and missed calls from his mother, but one caught his eye from another number.

Call me

He ignored it locking his phone. Before he put it in his pocket he had a strange thought, what time is it?

He pressed the button on his phone and looked at the time. Wonwoo's mouth dropped open when he read 11:30, which meant he had to leave for work in an hour. That gave him little time do nothing like he usually did.

Wonwoo, now a little more awake, walked over to his door and opened it. He had to push a couple of times as the hinges were getting rusty. Light poured in as well as the cold air. He instinctively wrapped his arms around himself, walking out onto the roof.

The sun was bright on the floor of the roof, making Wonwoo squint as he walked out into the sun. He yawned and stretched his arms. He leaned against the railing when he heard tinkering noises.

He searched for where it was coming from and found himself glancing over the railing, down at the road below. The road is normally quite as it's a side street from the main road, but today there was a lot of clanking noises.

On the side of the road was a red rusty old looking car. The paint job was scratched and the wing mirror was hanging on by a piece of tape. The more Wonwoo stared at it the more battered it got. The bonnet was open and someone was leaning over it, but Wonwoo couldn't see who it was due to them being covered.

The person was obviously male. He wore a white tank top, exposing his arms, with dark black smudges of grease over the front of it. It looked like he'd been working hard on whatever he'd been doing.

The guy pulled back and Wonwoo was surprised to see his neighbour, Mingyu. His hair wasn't styled and it hung in front of his eyes. He kept running his hands through it, which were dirty, making his hair an odd shade.

Wonwoo pushed off the railing, making his way over to the stairs leading down to the side road. He took each step preciously as they still looked rusty and easy to break.

He made it to the bottom alive and he peeked his head around the corner. It was definitely Mingyu. Wonwoo watched for a second to see Mingyu holding a spanner and cursing every time he pulled away from the bonnet.

Wonwoo decided to make himself apparent, he took one step out onto the empty street and coughed.

Mingyu glanced over his shoulder for a brief second before completely turning around. Mingyu leaned against the car while crossing his arms. Wonwoo noticed the drips of sweat trailing down his bicep.

"Oh, hey." Mingyu said as Wonwoo strode up to him. "I see you got some sleep." Mingyu gestured to Wonwoo's giant shirt and Wonwoo just straightened his posture.

"Well, it's a lot easier without the shouting." Wonwoo stood closer to Mingyu, trying to see what he was doing.

"I told you we don't argue all the time." Mingyu glanced at him and flashed a smile. He turned back to the car, hovering himself over the engine.

"So," Wonwoo started eager to get to know what he was doing. He walked over to Mingyu and stood beside him, "What exactly are you doing?"

"My car-" Mingyu started but got caught off by a phone ringing near by. Wonwoo realised it was his and dug his hands into his pockets. He glanced at the caller ID and bit his tongue, debating whether to answer it or not.

"Who is it?" Mingyu asked having watched Wonwoo stare at the screen for a good few seconds.

"Someone." Wonwoo decided to press 'answer' and pressed it to his ear, strolling away from Mingyu so that he was out of hearing distance. "What do you want?" Wonwoo said into the phone in a hushed tone.

"What? Your brother can't call you now?" Wonwoo rolled his eyes and leaned against a wall of a building. Mingyu had been staring at him, checking to see if he was okay, Wonwoo inclined his head and he got back to work.

"It's not that, it's just you don't do it that often." Wonwoo said grumpily into the speaker. His younger brother was his mother's favourite to put it simply. When he was back at home his brother would always suck up to his mom, blaming things he'd done on Wonwoo, to which she'd accepted with out doubt. Wonwoo had always wondered why she loved him so much, was it because he was better looking than him? Smarter than him? Less of a mess up than him?

"I need to call when my brother runs away from home." Wonwoo could hear the slight scolding in his voice which made him get hot with anger.

"Seokmin, watch how you address me." Wonwoo said into the phone bitterly, "I'm older than you, remember?"

"Ah, we don't need formalities, we're family, remember?" Seokmin countered and Wonwoo just rolled his eyes.

"What is it?" Wonwoo checked the time on his watch then glanced at Mingyu, who was still tinkering and cursing at the old car.

"How could you leave home? Mom's in despair."

"What, because her son that made the income in the house has finally left the nest? Seokmin, she needs to wake up to reality, Father's gone. Gone. She needs to get a job herself, start making some money instead of stealing mine."

"Hyung. She's never stole any money from you! Don't think that little of her." This was the first time he'd heard Seokmin become slightly angry, his voice almost as low as Wonwoo's.

"Then let me ask you something. Where do you think your school uniform comes from? Did you pay for it? Did she pay for it? Go ask her, I bet she doesn't even know how much the blazer costs."

"Hyung!"

"Seokmin, I think you should check which side you're on before you ring me." Wonwoo removed the phone from his ear and hung up. He seemed to be doing that a lot recently.

While dropping his phone into his pocket he walked back over to Mingyu. Mingyu had his arms crossed and was staring at the car with frustration. Wonwoo walked over to him and stood silently by his side.

"The stupid car won't start." Mingyu stated and rubbed his eyebrow, leaving big black grease lines.

"How long have you had the car?" Wonwoo asked out of curiosity, he'd only ever seen Mingyu take the train to work.

"About four years, why?" Mingyu grabbed a water bottle that was resting somewhere inside the bonnet. He lifted it to his lips and Wonwoo watched as drops managed to escape the corner of his mouth.

Wonwoo coughed, "I've never seen you take it to work before, you always use the train."

"The car hasn't been working for around three years." Mingyu laughed and kicked it with his foot lightly. "It wasn't the best when it was running either."

"Then why are trying to fix it now?" Wonwoo looked at the car which looked pretty much dead in his eyes.

"Long story." Mingyu was about to screw the top on his bottle, but before he did he gestured to Wonwoo if he wanted some. Wonwoo shock his head, declining.

"I've got time."

"Well, I don't. I've got to go to my shitty job." Mingyu sighed and slammed the bonnet down, locking the car. He wrapped the towel that was on the floor around his neck.

"Oh, yeah. I forgot that I have a job." Wonwoo laughed awkwardly. He seemed way too interested in Mingyu's life.

Mingyu laughed back and they both started walking towards the stairs leading to the rooftop apartments. "You know, I'm actually quite good at these types of things. Fixing cars, that is."

"You are?" Mingyu glanced at him his tinted black eyebrow raised.

"Oh yeah, I fixed my, uh, mother's car once. It runs smoothly now." Wonwoo gave a smile in his direction, "I could try and fix it if you want?"

"Woah, that would be great." Mingyu slapped Wonwoo's arm, "Thanks." Mingyu didn't look back as he walked away into his apartment, rubbing the towel on the back of his neck. Wonwoo stood there, watching where Mingyu had disappeared to, in dismay. When he decided to leave home he hadn't wanted to open up to anyone about himself, no one needed to know how messed up his life was. However, Wonwoo felt like he was opening up to much to this guy. It needed to stop.

Wonwoo drooped his head so that he was looking at the floor, he sighed before he turned on his heel and made his way through the still-open apartment door.

He looked at his watch and saw he only had half an hour before he had to get to work. He groaned before grabbing his work shirt and trousers, hauling them over his shoulder to get changed in the bathroom.

When he'd finished he'd quickly ran down the steps leading to the road, while quickly pulling his warm coat over his shoulders.

~

Once he'd made it to work, he'd slammed the door open, the chime signalling someone had entered sounded above his head. Wonwoo quickly glanced down at his watch and saw he had around 2 minutes before his shift started.

"Cutting it short, Wonwoo." Wonwoo's eyes flicked up towards the boy sitting behind the one counter in the local store. His hair was long, but not too long, and tied at the bottom of his head to keep it out of his eyes. The boy glanced at him before a playful smile featured on his face.

"It won't happen again, Jeonghan- I mean, uh, sir." Wonwoo said, not sure what to call him. It seemed like he was just a fellow employee but Wonwoo didn't want to risk it.

Jeonghan laughed as Wonwoo took his place beside him. "We're the same age, you know? You don't have to call me formally. Call me Jeonghan from now on."

"Yes, Jeonghan." Wonwoo mentally kicked himself as he put his name tag on.

"Are you okay?" Jeonghan asked while standing up from his seated position beside Wonwoo. He noticed Jeonghan looking at him, almost like he was studying him. Wonwoo ignored this and just rested his head in his hands, slightly rubbing his forehead.

"It's nothing." Wonwoo straightened his position, looking posed for any costumers.

"From what it looks like, you look stressed." Jeonghan stood behind him now, fixing his fringe behind his ears.
"I don't want to talk about it." Wonwoo replied. He didn't feel as inclined to open up about his life with Jeonghan, since he had opened up to Mingyu enough already.

"I wasn't going to ask, but..." Jeonghan sighed before sitting on top of the counter, he crossed his legs and slumped. "I was wondering... I know that we've only known each other for two days, but you look like you could use some fun."

Wonwoo glanced at Jeonghan and raised his eyebrows at him, not knowing what he was on about. "What?"

"There's a frat party." Jeonghan said to him before biting his bottom lip. "And you look stressed. You should come, take some time to relax. You know, if you want. You can bring friends."

"Why are you telling me about this?" Wonwoo really didn't feel like opening up to anyone else.

"Like I said, have fun." Jeonghan gave him one last look before jumping off the counter, clocking himself out of his shift. "Think about it, okay?"

He slapped his back, then slung his trench coat over his shoulders. He smiled at him before pushing the door to the convenience store open, sliding out.

Wonwoo sat still staring at the cold counter in front of him. It shocked him how much he'd opened up in the space of two days. When he'd left home, he'd promised himself not to let anyone in. Will going to a frat party be going against this?

"Why am I even thinking about this? I'm not a student. I can't go anyway." Wonwoo muttered to himself.

~

After finishing his shift, Wonwoo decided to go home. He caught a taxi and a train back to his apartment. As the train steadily sped along, he considered Jeonghan's invitation.

"Even if I did go, I wouldn't know anybody there," he muttered quietly to himself. "Besides, what 'friends' do I have to bring?"

Wonwoo fell silent.

Well, maybe-

No, why would I invite him?

Wonwoo got off the train when it stopped at his station. People pushed into him trying to get out first, and Wonwoo let them. He took his mask out of his back pocket of his trousers and slug it around his mouth, concealing his face from the cold.

He made it to the road where his apartment was and started making his way up the broken steps, that he was sure he'd get used to in a while.

He found himself halt on the last few steps before the top when he heard a rustling noise coming from around the corner. It sounded like clothes, but Wonwoo couldn't be sure. Maybe it was Mingyu.

Wonwoo peeked his head around the corner and saw a girl with long dark hair, back facing him. She was pretty from what Wonwoo could see, he found his eyes drawn to her like a moth to a flame.

She was taking clothes off of a washing line and folding them neatly into a basket on the floor. This gave Wonwoo a clear indication to who she was. Mingyu's girlfriend. Her hair was flowing in the wind behind her. No wonder Mingyu liked this girl. Wonwoo watched as she bent down and brought the basket into her arms.

Wonwoo decided that he should make himself apparent, so he stepped out from the corner. The girl turned around, her eyes almost instantly caught sight of him. She shot him a smile to which Wonwoo returned.

"You must be Wonwoo!" She exclaimed and put the laundry on the floor. She hurriedly walked over offering her hand. Wonwoo slipped his hand into her smaller one and shook.

"Ah, yes. You must be Mingyu's girlfriend... Sorry I can't remember your name." Wonwoo laughed almost awkwardly as he removed his hand from hers and rubbed the back of his head.

"Oh, I'm Aeri. Mingyu hasn't mentioned me?" She squinted her eyes at Wonwoo making him feel uncomfortable.

"Y-yes he did, he just said you were his girlfriend. He probably said your name as well, I have bad memory, you know?" Wonwoo blabbed out the lie, he didn't feel like making Mingyu's life more of a living hell right now.

"I know how it is, don't worry," Her expression changed from her former harsh one to one of happiness, "I heard you'd talked to Mingyu a few times?" She watched Wonwoo with curiosity.

"Oh, yeah. Mingyu's a great person, you should hold on to him." Wonwoo felt like putting a good word in for Mingyu would be a good way to start.

"Mingyu's told me a lot about you-" she starts but gets cut off by a loud squeaking noise. Both of hers and Wonwoo's heads turned to see Mingyu walk out of their apartment, his tie was half way down his neck showing he'd just come home from work.

"Hey, Aeri- Oh Wonwoo!" Mingyu burst out studying Wonwoo carefully, his eyes moving between the two of them, "I see you've met Aeri."

Wonwoo found it odd that Mingyu looked quite anxious at that moment.

"Yes!" She shuffled over to Mingyu and brought him over to the both of you. "He was just saying how you talk about me all the time." Her voice grew cold as she nudged him in the side with her elbow. Mingyu just laughed awkwardly and gave Wonwoo a glance, the type of look that said 'help me'.

"That's because I talk about you all the time." He glanced down at her and put a fake smile on his face. It was obvious for Wonwoo, he wondered if she noticed.

"Oh, well that's just great," She smiled back at him, Wonwoo watched as the smile grew more fake by the second. Mingyu's smile faltered as they stared at each other, "Can I speak with you inside for a moment?"

"Oh, yeah, later would be goo-"

"Now, please." She said through gritted teeth.

"Okay." She dragged him by the wrist towards the apartment. While Mingyu was being dragged backwards he gave Wonwoo a look of apology. Wonwoo just smiled back.

Yes she was attractive, but to Wonwoo her personality definitely was not.

~

It had been a while since Wonwoo had left the awkward situation and was just getting ready to go out for some fresh air. As much as he was happy about having his new apartment he couldn't stay in there for long. He was used to living in house full of people, his mother, his brother and... His father. Being alone in this apartment for a long time makes him miss home, which he can't afford to do, definitely if his mother were to keep taking his money from him.

Wonwoo slipped into his coat and shoes and made his way to the door. He tapped his pocket to see if his pack was still there, which it was. He walked outside into the fresh air. Even though it was September it was beginning to get breezy.

He walked into the fresh air, making his way over to the railing where he found himself going to every now and then. It was dark now.

He grabbed a cigarette from the pack and was about to put it in his mouth when the sound of the apartment door next door sounded. He looked up, cigarette half way to his mouth and saw Mingyu.

He looked flustered and Wonwoo wondered if he'd made up with his girlfriend.

Mingyu's eyes caught Wonwoo and smiled, but his smile fell off his face when he sees what he's holding.

"Do you always have to smoke when we meet?" He pulled a face and made his way around to where Wonwoo stood.

"I wasn't smoking earlier when I met your girlfriend." Wonwoo mentioned and Mingyu groaned.

"What I'm trying to say is you should stop smoking, it's bad for you. Also, don't get me started with Aeri." Mingyu leaned against the railing, putting his head in his hands.

"I wasn't going to." Wonwoo said and pulled the lighter out of his pocket. He lit the end and trail of smoke rose up in the air.

"Sometimes she can be a pain." Mingyu gets up from his rested position.

"Why are you with her then?" Wonwoo asked. Her personality wasn't Wonwoo's preferred. Definitely not Wonwoo's type.

"Because I don't like hurting people." He sighed. "That's also why I'm inviting you over for family dinner tomorrow night. She wants to apologise for what I did."

Wonwoo nodded, took the cigarette out his mouth and blew out a cloud of smoke. He offered Mingyu his cigarette. Mingyu shock his head, but continued to stare at the cigarette. He reached forward and snatched it from between Wonwoo's fingers. He stuck it his mouth, breathed in, then exhaled. He gave it back to Wonwoo who stood the still. He'd never expected him to take it. Slowly Wonwoo replaced the cigarette between his lips with a smirk.

"One time won't hurt," Mingyu said and turned to face Wonwoo. Wonwoo could smell the smoke on him. "Anyway, enough about me. Who were you on the phone to?"

"What?" Wonwoo looked at Mingyu who stood in front of him.

"Earlier. You looked stressed."

"It was just my brother telling me to go home-"

"Why?" Mingyu questioned and Wonwoo realised he'd already said too much.

"Ah, no reason." Wonwoo tried to stop the conversation, but Mingyu carried on.

"C'mon! You know a lot about my life. You may as well open up a little."

Wonwoo looked at him, "He was telling me to go back to my mother. I... I used to love my mother, you see."

"Why not now?" Mingyu asked, obvious that he was curious.

"She stole money from me," Wonwoo stated. When Mingyu opened his mouth Wonwoo butted in. "I don't want to talk about it."

"That's fine. In time you'll open up to me." Mingyu started backing away from him towards his apartment.

"Mingyu-"

"No, it's fine I understand."

"That's not what I was going to say. I was going to say that you smell of smoke." Wonwoo dropped the cigarette and smashed his foot on top of it.

"It's fine, she won't notice." Mingyu gave him one last smile before disappearing through the door.

Wonwoo looked one last time to where Mingyu had just gone, then started walking back to his apartment. He was a few feet away when he heard Aeri's voice.

"Did you just smoke?!"

Wonwoo closed the door behind him and slouched against it.

Bet I won't be getting any sleep tonight, Wonwoo thought to himself.